good morning and welcome to "this week." the next president of the united states of america! >> mitt's moment. >> you know there's something wrong with the kind of job he did as president, when the best feeling you had was the day you voted for him. >> the challenger makes his case. >>hat's missing is leadership in the white house! >> mr. psident, real leaders don't follow polls. real leaders change polls. >> this man will lift up america. >> now is the moment where we can stand up and say, i'm an american. today, we debate the big convention questions on the biggest stage of his life, did mitt romney seize the chance to connect with voters?

will he see a convention bounce? or, did isaac and clint eastwood upstage his message? and as the focus shifts from tampa to charlotte, can president obama persuade skeptical voters that he deserves a second chance? we'll ask david plouffe. our pounderhouse roundtable with george will, donna brazile, matthew dowd, bill burton and kerry healey. our friend george will calls conventions the seventh inning stretch of presidential campaigns. so, halfway through, where do we stand? >> what a welcome, cincinnati! thank you so much. >> the race is still pretty much a tie. early polls show only a slight bounce for mitt romney so far.

but his crowds in ohio and florida yesterday, were huge. and he tried to reach beyond his base. by admitting his party's mistakes. >> we'll finally have to do something that republicans have spoken about for a long time and for a while. we didn't do it. when we had the lead, we let them down. i will cut the deficit and get us on track to a balanced budget. >> president obama was on offense, in another battleground, iowa. his take on the republican convention, he called it a tired tv rerun that was black and white. >> when governor romney had a chance to let you in on his secret sauce, he didn't offer you a single, new idea. it was just a retread of the same old policies that have been sticking it to the middle class for years. >> and as the president makes it way to north carolina for the start of the democratic convention on tuesday, we're joined by his top white house strategist david plouffe. good morning. >> good morning.

>> thanks for joining us today. the core of romney's argument was pretty straightforward. his answer to the classic reagan question. take a look. >> this president can ask us to be patient. this president can tell us it was someone else's fault. this president can tell us that the next four years he'll get it right. but he can't tell you your better off today than four yees ago. >> is he right, can the president argue unequivocally that the americans are better off today than they were four years ago. >> listen, george, i think the american people understand that we got into a terrible economic situation, a recession, only that the country has ever seen like it is the great depression, it will take us a long time to get out of it. one thing that they didn't do last week in tampa

is explain how huge taxes for wealthy, cutting back regulations on wall street is going to help the middle class, the answer is, it's not. what we're going to lay out this week, we're going to explain to the american people and the middle class of this country, how we're going to continue to recover, not only recover more from the recession. but build an economy from the middle out. romney is going to offer trickle-down fairy dust. it didn't work then and it's n going to work w. i don't think he advanced the ball last week, convincing the middle class in this country that he'll be the president that has them in mind every day. >> yes or no, are americans better off than they were four years ago? >> listen, george, they did a good job of reciting all the statistics that everyone is familiar with. we're beginning to recover. we have a lot more work to do. we need to grow jobs more quickly and we need to grow middle-class incomes more quickly.

the question for american people, what path are we going to take? if we take romney's path, economists have looked at this, the recovery would slow down, we wouldn't produce jobs. he would give huge tax cuts to people like himself. so, the question is, we're going to be far worse off if romney is elected president. >> so, it sounds like, a year ago, the president told me, i don't think americans are better off than they were four years ago. you still can't say yes? >> well, we clearly improved from the depth of the recession. we were losing 800,000 a month. we're now gaining them. the unemployment rate was around 10, it's come down. we're beginning to see a manufacturing sector emerge. the american automotive industry was close to extinction. mitt romney would have let it go away, by the way. we wouldn't have an automotive

industry if romney was president. we have made a lot of progress from the depths of recession. we have a lot more work to do. that's the question we're going to lay out for the american people the romney path would be the wrong path for the middle class and this country. we got to continue to recover not from the recession, but how do we build an economy for the middle out? so we have an economy, a tax policy on how do we make the middle class more secure in this country. >> you heard mitt romney's pitch to those disappointed obama voters, does the president need some sort of mea culpa to get them back? >> listen, i think this president, next week, what we'll do today in colorado and throughout the duration of this campaign, will explain what he did to move away from -- again we were on the precipice of a great depression, health care, ending the iraq war, i think the

american people know that we have a tough economy, largely what the republican convention last week was, was hiding their own agenda, a bunch of platitudes and angry insults. people know that we have a tough economy. they want to know how we're going to move forward. i think we have energized here in colorado, here, great volunteers, we're beginning to see great registration. we think we'll be able to build the kind of excitement on the ground to win this election. particularly for the middle class voters in this country, who do you trust to make economic decisions with you at the core? and mitt romney is clearly going to make every decision through the prism of he believes that, if people like him get a huge tax break, somehow that's going to trickle down to everyone else. that's not the recipe for growth in this country. >> the other big economic decision that people will have to make is about medicare. medicare has been a winner for democrats. in his convention speech, paul ryan signaled to suggest that the republicans weren't going to cede that ground.

the central message was bring it on. here he was. >> in this election, on this issue, the usual posturing on the left isn't going to work. mitt romney and i know how to protecting a program and raiding it. ladies and gentlemen, our nation needs this debate, we want this debate, we will win this debate! >> of course, he took on more than $700 billion in savings from the president's health care plan. and we all know that savings were included in congressman's ryan's budget. but the republicans made some headway with this argument in 2010, are you worried about it now? >> george, this is a place where we're in full agreement with paul ryan, we think that this is an important debate to have it. and we're anxious to have it. first of all, it's remarkable when paul ryan was first picked as romney's vice president, it was praised. here's someone who's going to tell hard truths. but let's be clear about, first of all, the president's support

for medicare. which was supported by aarp. the savings all came from waste and fraud and subsidies that shouldn't have been going to insurance companies. not a dime came from medicare beneficiarie beneficiaries. the romney/ryan approach is voucherized medicare. when you run out of vouchers, seniors will be on their own. it's estimate that the ryan plan would add 6400 -- >> that's the old ryan plan -- >> so this is, well, george, here's the thing, and the romney/ryan approach would bankrupt medicare in four years. so you've got solvency through the president's approach of medicare. bankruptcy through the romney/ryan approach. the president getting savings from the insurance company, from fraud and waste. you got the romney/ryan approach, which is we're going to get all of the money from medicare beneficiaries. i think on the question, in florida and ohio and other states, who do you trust to protect medicare and reduce our deficit to get the savings from the system and not putting it on

the back of beneficiaries of medicare? >> that's somewhere you agree with paul ryan. and one place you disagree with the romney/ryan ticket are the ads that they have been sending out on welfare reform, neither governor romney or congressman ryan have mentioned welfare in their convention speeches. but here's the ad they have been running. >> president obama offered a plan to gut welfare reform by dropping work requirements. under obama plan, he wouldn't have to work and train for work. welfare goes back to being welfare. i know that you disagree with the ad. my question is, it doesn't seem to deter governor romney. question is, why? many of your supporters have accused the romney team of playing the race card, the dnc chair called it a dog whistler for voters when casting their ballot. does the president agree with that?

>> well, first, george, on medicare, i don't agree with paul ryan, i agree that it's important debate for the country. so, first of all, george, right now, their campaign, is built on a tripod of lies. a welfare attack that is just absolutely untrue. the suggestion that we're raiding medicare is absolutely untrue. and then this whole we can't build it nonsense, i think the president, like everybody in america believes that small businesses are built through the drive and innovation and hard work. the point that he was trying to make, things like, education, roads, infrastructure, it was amazing by the way. i don't think we have seen a presidential campaign built on absolute lies. on welfare, it's absolutely untrue. everyone who looked at it is outraged that they're making this. the president, actually, these waivers strengthen work. you would have to get 20% more work in the state to even qualify.

now, as for their motivations, i'll leave that to them. >> but the dnc chair said it's a dog whistler playing on racial resentment. >> well, listen, i think they'll have to answer what they're trying to do. i think they're trying to suggest somehow that we're trying to give a bunch of handouts to people which is just not true. this is a president who believes in his core that hard work must be rewarded and if people aren't willing to work harder and be responsible, we shouldn't reward them. but here's the question, their whole theory, the economy isn't great, and it's obama's fault. he didn't talk about welfare in his speech on thursday night. the other thing that he didn't talk about in his speech was the war we're waging in afghanistan. for a man who wants to be

elected as our commander in chief. which i think is amazing. not talk about our troops and the war we're waging in afghanistan. that was a huge omission and i think a really remarkable thing. final question, i have to ask you about clint eastwood. the president sent out that tweet. we're going to show it right now. there it is, this seat's taken. i guess he felt he was pretty funny. the president? >> listen, i think president, myself, we all, i think, as everyone in america thinks he's been amazing actor and director. i do think that the romney campaign, three days after their convention, still having questions raised about clint eastwood. you'll have to ask them how it all went down. i don't think probably -- they probably had other business they wanted to transact.

but, we're all clint eastwood fans here in the white house. >> david plouffe, thank you very much. >> thank you. we'll be right back with our powerhouse roundtable in just 60 seconds. rhouse roundtable in just 60 seconds. it's something you're born with. and inspires the things you choose to do. you do what you do... because it matters. at hp we don't just believe in the power of technology. we believe in the power of people when technology works for you. to dream. to create. to work. if you're going to do something. make it matter. the economy needs manufacturing. machines, tools, people making stuff. companies have to invest in making things. infrastructure, construction, production. we need it now more than ever. chevron's putting more than $8 billion dollars back in the u.s. economy this year.

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this morning, i'm joined as always by george will, donna brazile, matthew dowd, kerry healey and a former obama adviser bill burton. let's talk about the republican convention, this first round, george, we saw three nights, one night short because of isaac, in those three nights, did they do what they needed to do? >> it's not clear. the question is, who's watching and why? the kind of people who tune in conventions unusually interested in politics. >> viewership was about 30% from four years ago. >> that's right. and that matters, but the voting starts in the country, in iowa, in 25 days. a third of the american people live in the 35 states, 32 states, for early voting. we're on the edge of something here and the question is, did mitt romney tell us something

that we didn't already know? we know that he's against what they call trickle-down government. but did he tell us something that we didn't already know? i doubt it. >> did he, donna? >> i don't believe he closed the door. and i also believe it was a missed opportunity. george, when you attend a republican convention as a democrat, you expect that they're going to hammer your side. what we saw for three nights, the republican party basically trying to figure out their path party. we had the rising stars of 2016 and a conversation with ann romney, who said look, i'm going to tell you why he made me laugh and why we should trust them and that bizarre performance by clint eastwood, we're left still wondering who is mitt rom snooe? >> although, dr. healey, we did see ann romney's speech, and governor romney did that himself on thursday night.

>> not only that, you also saw people throughout his life on thursday night, people that i had never met before, telling their own stories about the incredible, charitable acts that governor romney had done throughout his lifetime in secret. i mean, often people, wonder, why don't we hear more about mitt romney's charitable acts? but on that night, people came forward and said, let me tell you about the kindness he had about our sick child. people came forward and said, this is what it was looking with -- like working with him at bain capital and how he created jobs. that was a decision that the networks made not to cover more of that and i hope that people go online and look at those speeches, because that was really, to me, some of the most powerful moments of the convention.

>> well, for me, the convention, they're not used to closing the deal. but they're used to building blocks in a tight race in order to convert people. i think what the convention did, they wanted to convert people from anti-obama to pro-romney. it raises stakes for october 3rd. the other thing if i was the romney campaign, normally, if you take a look at history, conventions and messages primarily about biographies don't usually win. if you think about bob dole's convention was primarily about his biography and he lost. john mccain's convention. i think what they missed is an opportunity is to take the man and connect to the viewers. >> on the other hand, bill burton, he made the strong case for a lot of americans not feeling better than they were four years ago. >> the flaw in that question, if you look at when the president took over, we were still losing 800,000 jobs a month.

so, the situation didn't get to the very worse point, until the end of the president's term. since the recovery has started, yes, more than 4 million jobs has been created. what mitt romney missed one of the most powerful parts of their convention was the personal stories that came from people who weren't in primetime. but what he missed was the opportunity, not only to talk about how much he loves his family and what he was going to american people and their families. there was no specificity. no defense to his economic strategy and i think that was the biggest missed opportunity. >> kerry healey, "the wall street journal" editorial page basically made the same point yesterday, they said that he didn't lay out his economic agenda without enough specificity. >> i would strongly disagree. that's how he closed his speech.

he's also been talking for the last month, and also at the convention, his policies to expand the welfare of the middle classes, to talk about job creation there, to create 12 million new jobs to bring down unemployment. unemployment now has been over 8% for 43 months. so, of course, you can't say that you're better off than you were four years ago. i think he made an appeal to people. to repeal obama care. there's a lot of support for. empower small businesses. lower taxes on everyone. not just upper income folks, but everyone and small businesses, and to get us to a point of energy independence. he did lay out the specifics. >> one of the points that i also thought was important, george will, the pitch to the disappointed obama voters, the image of the fading obama posters on college students' wall. >> they want the president to succeed. bass they put them there.

i thought that tone, more sorrow than anger, it's all right to change presidents. after all, if we have a third two-term president in a row, it will be the only second time in american history that we have had. jefferson, madison and monroe. so turmoil and change is perfectly normal in the chief executive officer. and i think that's what romney was saying. >> was that the best part of the convention? >> no. the best part of to convention were getting to know the ron paul people. who left with a bad taste in their mouths. the truth be told, two-thirds of mitt romney's speech. i watched the video. he got a glimpse into his family life. i enjoyed meeting his sons. two-thirds of his speech was all about emotional, him the man, him the person, he didn't lay out his policies until the last 15 minutes and he did it in such a moving, quick way, i got a five-point plan.

i was thinking that you had 59 points. and you reduced it to five. there was still no meat. no meat. >> to me, that disappointed, was actually fundamental the most powerful part of the message. because who they have to win this election, were people who voted for obama, but don't like the current direction of the country. sort of the gold watch strategy for the ceo, give him a gold watch, let him go on his way, and we need a new ceo. i want to make a point which i think people misinterpreted about the question, are we better off? a whole bunch of research on this, the question is twofold, this, twofold, is the country better off, not are you, people will vote for somebody, even if they were worse off, and secondly, almost as powerful, will the country be better off four years from now, i think

what you'll see mitt romney will make an argument that says the country isn't better off. obama will have to make the argument, the country will be better off if i get four more years. >> clearly the argument that david plouffe was making today. >> also what was missing from romney's speech was a very forward-looking vision for where he's going to take the country. if you look at what president obama did in 2008, in his speech where he introduced himself to the american people, people talked about the rhetoric and what a great speech it was and how it was delivered. but he talked very specifically about health care, iraq, afghanistan and then he accomplished all of those things. romney didn't really lead you down the path of the things that he's going to accomplish. we have a lot more roundtable after this break. including the democrats. a look ahead to the democrats' big week. president obama is seeking to make his case with first-time voters. you can understand why.

second-time voters have graduated and can't find a job. >> are campaigns becoming fact-free zones? >> some misstatements of the facts. let's not forget this was a speech about big ideas. >> yes, huge ideas. ideas like, lying is handy. >> and what about foreign policy and that navy s.e.a.l.'s book about the killing of osama bin laden? >> a former navy s.e.a.l. has a book out that claims that osama bin laden was unarmed when he was shot. yeah? the book is called "who cares he's dead."

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i want you to know, there's another commitment bp takes just as seriously: our commitment to america. bp supports nearly two-hundred-fifty thousand jobs in communities across the country. we hired three thousand people just last year. bp invests more in america than in any other country. in fact, over the last five years, no other energy company has invested more in the us than bp. we're working to fuel america for generations to come. today, our commitment to the gulf, and to america, has never been stronger. lots more roundtable coming up, after this from our abc stations. coming up, after this from our abc stations.

♪ what the naysayers don't understand is that this election has never been about me. it's about you. you have shown what history teaches us. that at defining moments like

this one, the change doesn't come from washington, change comes to washington. change happens because the american people demand it. because they rise up and insist on new ideas and new leadership. new politics for a new time. america, this is one of those moments. >> far fewer gray hairs on barack obama four years ago. let's talk about his don vengs with our roundtable. george will, donna brazile, matthew dowd, kerry healey and bill burton. george will, let's talk about president obama. you heard all that hope four years ago, how does he calibrate the pitch four years later? >> i think he runs his pitch at his opponents. he presented himself as the first president as history

to ever inherit from his predecessor this imperfect world. i think he's going to make six arguments for a second term. first, mitt romney is rich. we need a serious vice president, joe biden instead of paul ryan. third, republicans hate women. fourth, the only woman they don't hate is ayn rand. and she's dead and she wrote bad novels. fifth, something has to be done to present sandra fluke for paying for her on contraception. all will be well. finally, if i can raise by 4.64 points the top income rate on the fewer than 3% of american people. that's it. >> is that it, donna? >> no, first of all, president obama should not spend his speech refuting all of the arguments that the republicans have made against him since day one. secondly, he shouldn't try to reinvent himself or reintroduce himself. i think the most important the president can do is, talk to the

american people and tell them about the journey that we have been on. progress he's made and give us a glimpse into the next four years. if he can do that and give the american people a sense of pride in our accomplishments, not just his, i think the american people will rally to his cause and will put those posters back up on the wall. >> how about the question that i posed to david plouffe, does he have to make a mirror image argument of what romney was making the other night? where he was talking to those disappointed supporters, look, i know that i didn't everything right. >> george, that's the elephant in the room. i mean, nobody wants to go out there and brag about i'm doing a great job when there are millions of americans still unemployed. president obama has to say, i feel your pain. i got your back. i'm working hard every day to get you back to work. >> i think hes has to do much more.

the same voters that romney needs are the same voters that barack obama need. i think he has to do something, some idea that maybe he doesn't say i made a mistake but i learned in office and take responsibility. >> a communications problem -- >> when people say communications problem, you're basically saying i didn't do anything wrong. we have had two presidents in a row, barack obama and george w. bush who had an incredible incapacity to say i made a mistake. when you don't do that, the public tunes their ears out. and say person will not take responsibility for what happened. >> from discussions that i have had with people inside your campaign, they agree with that. it would be a powerful move from the president. very clear with your conversation with david plouffe, even he couldn't say that people are better off than four years ago.

as george mentioned it's quite likely that, unfortunately, the focus of the convention may be simply trying to continue to say negative things about mitt romney and paul ryan, as opposed to explaining why they weren't able to accomplish any of the goals laid out in the 2008 campaign. >> won't they zero in on the plans of romney and ryan. >> and we'll have robust discussions. and we welcome that. because they don't have a record to run on. when you have young people coming out of college today with no jobs, when you have high unemployment still in place, i think that this is a discussion that will have to be had after the debate. >> when you get away from president obama's speeches, i think it takes on a life of

rhetoric and loftiness and things like that. but when you actually listen to the words he said, yesterday in his campaign speech, listen to the '08 speech, he gets down and dirty about what needs to get done. and about the fact that we need to make more progress. i bet he does talk about the economic argument that mitt romney did make on thursday night. because he didn't, the president will be able to fill in the blanks. on the what the consequences on american people. >> george, i think the missing piece of this entire campaign on both sides of this, and i think the first one who does this, will have an advantage. neither side has displayed a compelling vision for the future. what you saw at the republican convention, a vision of the past. the past was so great. america was extraordinary. families were like this. barack obama up to this point, which i think their convention,

although it will be contrast, it has to be, if he's going win, it has to be primarily about what he's going to do in the next four years and his vision of the future. >> it will be why things will be different in the next four years. >> presidents' fundamental approach is backward looking. he talke in this in the clip that we showed at the beginning of the segment. the democrats' ideas, program 74 years old social security and medicare don't need to change at all, ever, the world has changed. our demography has changed. we kent end of them as we know it. i think what mr. romney has do is say, we have a fundamentally reactionary party. we will change. >> george, we have been talking about trickle-down economics for the last 30 years. that's why we're stuck in this

economic problem that we're in. we face a balanced sheet recession. we're trying to come above that cloud storm. 29 consecutive months of jobs growth. a manufacturing sector that's getting stronger. the auto industry. saved. i think this president has a remarkable record. troops home from iraq. while romney didn't talk about americans risking their lives in afghanistan, i think president will talk about that. i don't feel like i'm going into a convention on defense. we're going to play offense. we're going to take it from mitt romney. president obama will go forward. >> i understand that president obama didn't see any of the convention. so his characterization of it being almost in black and white is purely from what other people have told him. if he had seen it he would have seen a president romney in the future looking toward energy

independence, job creation. getting the engine of job creation going again. knowing exactly how to do that, thanks to his experience in the private sector. >> in order to make the economic argument president obama is going to be calling out a big gun, this week, wednesday night, bill clinton, here's the pitch he made four years ago. >> middle class and low-income americans are hurting with incomes declining, job losses, poverty and inequality rising. the job of the next president is to rebuild the american dream. barack obama is the man for this job! >> bill burton, it's no secret that the two presidents haven't had the closest of relationships, but i think shows how much president obama wants to win, not only calling him into his convention, but in his ads. >> president client ona nuuniquy

surrogate for his message. he takes this conversation from the theoretical to the empirical. i think a big mistake that republicans have made is elevating president clinton, because it makes him very important in this race. i think we all know that, if this race comes down to one vote and it comes to president clinton's, we know who's going to vote for. >> let's go back to '90s, bill clinton had the good fortune of being president when the commercialization of the internet drove the nasdaq in five years to 4500. and if you think you can reproduce those conditions, good luck. >> two things that are fascinating about bill clinton, i remember in 2000, al gore could barely make his name on the ticket. basically, he wouldn't let him campaign for him. he wouldn't let him cut

commercials. and for a guy president obama who beat his wife and now in the position to please save me in the course of this campaign is a fascinating thing. the other fast fascinating thing is, the last two-term president was barely mentioned at the republican convention. i think they have to be careful. bill clinton is a popular figure. i think they got to be careful that basically people don't walk away from, we kind of like that president. now, we're stuck with this president, president obama. they have to be careful that it's about the future. and about president obama. it's not about the great days in the past with bill clinton. >> i don't want to correct all of the things that you said about bill clinton. bill clinton campaign for us. that's why we won the popular votes. he didn't campaign in all of the states. and he did not beat his wife, they competed and president obama won the nomination.

>> one thing that i'm going to be watching for, dr. healey, whether bill clinton in that speech on wednesday night, clinton does appear in the romney welfare ads, whether or not bill clinton does bring up and take on this whole welfare argument, which a lot of democrats have called race baiting. >> well, it's very interesting that the signature accomplishment of the clinton administration, the welfare reforms embraced by many and rejected by obama at the time. he he felt that they were a bad idea and they have become so central to this race. what we have seen a unilateral action by the obama administration, saying, we don't feel that we need to enforce these anymore. we'll release the states from enforcing the work requirements. you know, you can make the argument and i'm sure some people are spoiling to do that. you know, that isn't actually abandoning the core of the legislation. but it is. you never give government a

power, and say, don't worry, we won't use it. >> republican governors asking for the waivers. >> but this is something that we're not even sure that a president has to power to do under this legislation. >> i just have to -- everything you're saying, lieutenant vernor has been widely debunked. and i think there's a reason that mitt romney didn't bring this up on the convention floor. if you don't have the guts to make an argument to the american people in the light of day but you spend $10 million making the core of your argument, it says you who are. $10 million is a lot of money. if that's the centerpiece of his argument to people in their living rooms, late at night, watching television, why didn't he say anything about it at the convention? >> i think one of the most important things is to go back and look at the documents here. because there's a lot he said/she said. about these welfare reforms. we'll insist that they have better outcomes in the future.

>> george, to me, the biggest problem with this argument, if you still can find a little tiny kernel way down deep, it's partially truth. and we're going to make this argument. the truth has become a casualty in this campaign on both sides of the aisle. as if we're going to make any argument possible. in order to overcome the other side. republicans do it. democrats do it. not necessarily on the same scale. but we'll see it at this convention. because, i think, from my perspective, what happened at this convention is nobody are calling on it, paul ryan what he did in his speech, i think so stretched the truth. i like paul ryan. i have a lot of great respect for paul ryan. but what he said about closing the gm plant, which closed before barack obama too the presidency. about the simpson/bowles, which he opposed, faults barack obama for, at some point the truth

should matter. >> at every particular and what he said about the gm plant was right. he did not say it closed before obama became president. the one who said that was the so-called fact checker at the washington post who got it wrong. he said it was closed in december 2008. in fact it was making trucks in april 2009. >> george, anybody watching that speech, just like the welfare thing, anybody coming away from that believes one thing. but he was trying to convey that barack obama was responsible for the closing of the gm plant and that isn't true. >> especially in jamesville, where we were about to lose a major factory. entirely true. >> this kind of factory, with government intervention should be able to be opened for another 100 years and then it was announced that it would

eventually close, it did close after obama was in office not before, no intervention occurred. the whole idea is that this is precisely the type of thing that obama said that he was going to be able to accomplish and he has not. >> but paul ryan supported the auto bailout. >> the point is, we're talking about fact-checking here at the moment. this is one of those cases where the fact-checkers just had it wrong. >> now the fact-checkers are liars too. i mean -- >> not liars. just don't have their facts right. >> i have my paper, too. please don't give me any more paper, my handbag is full. the point is, paul ryan, a rising star in the republican party, clearly he exaggerated a lot of points. and we spent the next day trying to clear up all the exaggerations. there's a larger issue here, george, the american people are

sick and tired of politics. they're sick and tired of the back and forth. president obama, vice president biden and bill clinton, who i believe is a key leader, next week for us, they need to make sure they talk directly to the american people. not get into trying to refute all of the republican arguments. >> this is, again, mr. kessler of "the washington post," the plant was closed in december 2008. before obama was sworn in. false. now, a subtext of all this, we're all racists. can i ask you a question, what's the largest city in illinois? >> chicago. >> you're a racist. the guys over at msnbc have said when republicans talk about chicago, it's a subtext for racism. >> george, let me tell you, as a first african-american woman to manage a presidential campaign, i will never forget the

conversation i had with my dad, i thought my dad would be excited. he said it's just a job. racism is a subtext, context of every campaign in mar history. i don't get drawn into those conversations. i heard about a camerawoman at a network i also work for, getting pelted with peanuts at the convention. i don't get drawn into that. because i understand when you put this conversation on the table we can't have a substantive conversation about welfare reform, social policy, because we want to get drawn into that conversation. look, we need to have a forward-looking conversation. about what it takes to grow the economy in the 21st century. >> to me, we get to better conversation on this, there's a difference between getting the letters of the facts right and the spirit of the facts right. the spirit of what they were saying, you could find an element.

i'm with donna on this, american people are tired of this argument. and this whole empty chair thing we had with clint eastwood, was a bizarre moment. to me the empty chair that matters in all of this is the empty chair of the man or woman who didn't come home from iraq. people are sitting around the table because their husband or wife is gone. it's the empty chair of the woman who has to work two shifts because she doesn't have flex time. the empty chair of the grandfather, with also hiezheim who's can't be there because they're in a home. that's what they're talking about. they don't want to talk about what happened three, four years ago. >> brings up the empty chair of the soldier doesn't come home from afghanistan, did it surprise you that didn't you hear more about the war. >> here i'm in complete agreement with what david plouffe said in your interview with him. 53 died in august in afghanistan.

if the mission is not so important that someone running for commander in chief won't mention an ongoing war, the longest war in our national history that more than anything, the case of why we should be out now. >> governor romney had just given a major speech the day before on this topic, and so, i'm sure that he was trying to cover different territory there. he has discussed afghanistan on many occasions. and he's made it very clear that he finds it's very dangerous for our troops. he said that he's going to conduct a review of the conditions on the ground if he's elected as president and make sure that our interests in afghanistan are preserved and there's no conversation, no conversation with the democratic party right now, around what those interests are. do they still care if afghanistan becomes a haven for terrorism? are they going to postpone their

withdraw if they feel it's not appropriate at this time. it really seems as though this withdrawal level in afghanistan has been set on a political time schedule. >> but what mitt romney said during the primary, and i quote, we should not negotiate with the taliban, we should defeat the taliban. if romney's position is we should fight on in afghanistan until we defeat the taliban whatever that means, he'll lose and he should lose. >> you get the last word. >> his position is that we should not be looking at afghanistan through a political lens. when we look at this pre-announced withdrawal schedule, it only be viewed as political. >> i wish we had more time. this was a fantastic roundtable. thank you very much. our conversation will continue online, matt and donna will answer your questions on twitter.

just use the hash tag this week. we'll be right back ♪ three moments from this week in history, what year was it? the vietnam veterans memorial opened. >> when that war was over, there was little public honor for those who survived. now, we're remembering them. the nuclear freeze movement was born. >> american people are more concerned about the dangers of a nuclear confrontation and nuclear war than any time i have served in public life. and -- some call e.t. the best film in 20 years. >> it became an instant classic. >> e.t., phone home. >> was it 1981, 1982 or 1983? we'll be right back with the answer. whoa! don't want you spilling that hot latte on my driver's seat.

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♪ so, what year was it? when did the vietnam veterans memorial open and "e.t." broke records at the box office? 30 years ago in 1982. and now, we honor our fellow americans who serve and sacrifice. this week, the pentagon released the names of three soldiers killed in afghanistan. released the names of three soldiers killed in afghanistan. finally, your voice this week, today's message is for our friend rob rin roberts. lissa forbes writes -- you're an amazing woman -- beautiful inside and out. we're praying for your health and strength. we are all, lissa. the grace that robin roberts demonstrates every day inspires all of us who works with her. the next phase will start after her mother's funeral on wednesday and robin will be posting updates at gma.yahoo.com/robin. you can also found out there how

to join be a match and be a bone marrow donor. that's all for us today. thank you for sharing part of your labor day weekend with us. check out david muir on "world news" tonight. i'll see you on "good morning america."